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Growth Projections: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings per share is $2.66 for 2017 and $3.03 for 2018. Though the estimate for 2017 reflects a year-over-year decline of 13.4%, the same for 2018 will rebound to 13.7% growth. Revenues for both 2017 and 2018 are expected to increase about 3% and 4%, respectively.

Northbound Estimates: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2017 has inched up 1.1% and 1.7% for 2018 over the last 60 days.

An Outperformer: Shares of Cincinnati Financial have gained 6.2% quarter to date, outperforming the industry’s increase of 4.4%. The shares have also outperformed the S&P 500, gaining 2.2% over the same time frame.

Positive Earnings Surprise History: Cincinnati Financial has surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last nine quarters with an average beat of 30.56%.

Also an improving excess and surplus lines market should continue to drive performance at Excess and Surplus line.

Appointing new agencies has been one of the key strategic initiatives adopted by Cincinnati Financial to shore up its premium. To that end, the company plans to appoint about 100 additional agencies that focus on high net worth personal lines clients and will market only personal lines products in 2017. Also, 100 independent agencies’ appointments remain in plan for property casualty insurance products in 2017.

The company has been witnessing progress in net investment income despite a sustained low interest rate environment. With gradual improvement in interest rate, we expect the momentum to continue.

A strong capital position aids the company to return value to shareholders. For the past 57 years, Cincinnati Financial has been constantly hiking dividends, a record matched by only eight other publicly-traded companies in the United States. Its current dividend yield is 2.6%, better than the industry average of 1.7%. The company also engages in regular buybacks. All these make Cincinnati Financial an attractive pick for yield-seeking investors.

Atlas Financial Holdings engages in underwriting commercial automobile insurance policies in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises in two of the last four quarters with an average beat of 57.94%

Markel Corporation markets and underwrites specialty insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company delivered positive surprises in two of the last four quarters with an average beat of 21.06%.

Mercury General Corporation engages in writing personal automobile insurance in the United States. The company delivered positive surprises in three of the trailing four quarters with an average beat of 1.06%.

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At the center of everything we do is a strong commitment to independent research and sharing its profitable discoveries with investors. This dedication to giving investors a trading advantage led to the creation of our proven Zacks Rank stock-rating system. Since 1988 it has more than doubled the S&P 500 with an average gain of +25% per year. These returns cover a period from 1988-2017. Zacks Rank stock-rating system returns are computed monthly based on the beginning of the month and end of the month Zacks Rank stock prices plus any dividends received during that particular month. A simple, equally-weighted average return of all Zacks Rank stocks is calculated to determine the monthly return. The monthly returns are then compounded to arrive at the annual return. Only Zacks Rank stocks included in Zacks hypothetical portfolios at the beginning of each month are included in the return calculations. Zack Ranks stocks can, and often do, change throughout the month. Certain Zacks Rank stocks for which no month-end price was available, pricing information was not collected, or for certain other reasons have been excluded from these return calculations.

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